UPDATE: (8:45 a.m. Tuesday) Tuesday's board of adjustment meeting at which members would have discussed the height of a communication tower related to runways at Dyess Air Force Base has been cancelled due to a lack of quorum.

The Reporter-News will follow this story as it continues to develop.

ORIGINAL STORY: A company’s request to place a 700-foot tower to provide internet service to rural areas is facing opposition from those who say its height could jeopardize missions at Dyess Air Force Base, including basing the B-21 bomber here.

According to Board of Adjustment documents, WesTex Towers Inc. is proposing constructing the tower on the east side of U.S. Highway 83-84, about 1 mile northeast of the Callahan Divide Estates subdivision.

The issue, which the city's Board of Adjustment will hear at its 8:30 a.m. meeting Tuesday at City Hall, is that the tower requires a variance, about 658 feet, at the proposed location about 10 miles southeast of Dyess' main runway.

At the location which is within a Use Restriction Area designed to protect flight paths, the maximum height for any structure or natural growth is 2,319 feet above sea level. The elevation at the location is 2,277 feet above sea level. Building the 700-foot tower would put its height at 2,977 feet above sea level, or 658 feet above the maximum height allowed at the site, which is why the company is asking for a variance.

The extra height some worry would cause issues for Dyess both now and in the future.

In a letter to the city’s planning development services department, Gray Bridwell, chairman of the Abilene Military Affairs Committee, said that that “placement of obstacles, like this tower, in flight patterns endangers aviators and the general citizenry.”

“But solutions to those problems could have severely negative long-term impacts on operations at Dyess Air Force Base, and potentially Abilene and the area,” Bridwell wrote. “… The most damaging impact could come to possible future missions for Dyess, such as the basing of the B-21 Raider, (the Air Force’s) new generation bomber. Any encroachment into airspace lessens the chances for additional missions.”

The tower would “negatively affect flight procedures due to the fact that a taller structure must be accounted for,” according to a statement by Lt. Col. Shamekia N. Toliver, USAF Commander of the 7th Civil Engineer Squadron.

“We do not believe that these changes constitute a threat or an impediment to continued flight operations,” Toliver wrote. “However, we would also prefer to operate in airspace that is clear of obstructions and obstacles, which by definition require more complex procedures to ensure safety.”

A Federal Aviation Administration study found that the tower posed no hazard to air navigation, saying the structure would have “no substantial adverse effect on the safe and efficient utilization of the navigable airspace by aircraft or the operation of air navigation facilities.”

At present, there are numerous towers already existing in this area, including towers with heights ranging from 2,750 feet to 2,991 feet above sea level, WesTex Towers said in public documents.

The tower location has been approved by and/or meets the requirements of the National Environmental Protection Act and the Texas Historical Commission, the company said.

“Suffice it to say that all regulatory and/or government approval has been obtained save and except the City of Abilene,” the company said.

The Reporter-News attempted to contact WesTex Towers’ applicant, Rodney Amonett on Friday and Monday, but did not hear back.

But the company, in documents that form part of the board’s background information, said the new tower would greatly improve its ability to offer internet to rural areas.

“As that is one of the goals of the federal government, we believe that the increased height of the tower will help to accomplish this purpose,” the company said.

WesTex Towers said in the information packet that it knows of “no other locations on the property that could accommodate the use while still complying with the ordinance.”

Councilman Bruce Kreitler, who has taken an interest in the situation, said that south of Abilene, “as far as communications, it just drops off.”

“I think in this instance the mission of Dyess Air Force Base can be protected and internet services can be brought to an area that has little in the way of Internet services,” Kreitler said.

City of Abilene staff is recommending denial of the variance because of opposition from Dyess, according to documents prepared for Board of Adjustment members.